2018 College Football Previews: Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas Razorback
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Coach: Chad Morris (0-0 @Ark., 14-22 overall)1st Season
Stadium: Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (Capacity: 54,120)
CSJ Projections:
12th: SEC (7th in West Division)
1st: Arkansas
71st: FBS
74th: Division I
2017 In A Sentence: After five years under Coach Bret Bielema, Arkansas decided to go another direction especially after last season’s 4-8 record and just 1-7 in SEC play,included losing its last three SEC contests.
Biggest Shoes to Fill: OC Frank Ragnow was an All-American and the nation’s top-graded center by Pro Football Focus each of the last two seasons. He was a three-year starter for the Razorbacks and team captain as a senior.He played in 42 games with 33 consecutive starts, participating in 2,603 snaps and never allowing a sack. He was selected 20th overall in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions.
Key Player: Junior TE Austin Cantrell (along with senior Jeremy Patton) will be a key target especially given the team is a light short on wide receivers for whomever the Arkansas quarterback (still a five-way battle between sophomore Cole Kelly, junior Ty Sorety and three other freshman). Cantrell is coming off a 13 reception, 85 yard performance last year but tight ends are more of a key position in new Coach Chad Morris’ attack.
Fearless Prediction: The defense is switching to a 4-3 alignment and with the issues at the quarterback, it is hard to imagine that the Razorbacks will improve by much over the four-win total they had last year.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football in the western half of the United States– the Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below:
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About The Author
Kent Schmidt
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football in the western half of the United States-- the Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below: